By Ray Cardello for July 12, 2024, Season 27 / Post 28

I heard the former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, give his opinion of the current House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and it made a lot of sense, and I think it is spot-on. McCarthy said there are two types of people, and they can be classified as Thermostats and Thermometers. Thermostats set the plan and agenda for society. They are the “doers” that make the world tick. Thermometers simply sit back and record the day. They are not dynamic people or contributors. They are just along for the ride.

McCarthy applied the Thermometer label to Jeffries. Jeffries seems like an educated man and a thinker, though his slow and methodical delivery makes him look slow and not very thought-provoking. One thing you can always count on with Jeffries is that his comments will be over the top to make the maximum impact on listeners. His words will include existential and extreme MAGA.

His comments yesterday in the well of the House were a prime example. He was addressing the bill presented by the Republicans that would restrict voting in Federal elections to citizens. He exaggerated the purpose of the bill, drifted off-topic, and connected the bill and the motives of Republicans for presenting such a bill as an effort to suppress the voting process and how it was indicative of the Far-Right MAGA thinking of Donald Trump and his followers. Hakeem does not have any children, and therefore, he neglects to think about how the actions of our government today will impact the generations of tomorrow.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed on Wednesday by a vote of 221 to 198. In total, 216 Republicans and five Democrats voted to pass the bill, while 198 Democrats voted against the measure. The Save Act is a very simple and straightforward bill that limits the right to vote in federal elections to citizens of the United States. You would think that would garner unanimous support from Congress, but you would be wrong. I commend Jared Golden (D-ME) for voting for the bill and condemn both New Hampshire’s representatives for voting against it. Golden continues to impress me with his bipartisan thinking, and I hope someday he will make the jump to the Republican Party.

But back to Jeffries. He said little about the bill when he commented against the SAVE Act. He used his time to criticize Republicans for being radical followers of the Trump MAGA movement and proponents of what he called the Trump 2025 Project. The 2025 Project is a comprehensive plan written by the Heritage Foundation for returning America to a more Conservative position should Republicans gain control of the White House or Congress in the 2024 elections. It is not a “Trump plan,” though I am sure he and all conservatives would embrace many of the parameters of the plan. Jeffries went on to claim Republicans want a national ban on all abortions and to destroy universal access to a good education by disbanding the Department of Education. It was a dramatic speech about why people should be afraid of Donald Trump and all MAGA Republicans, but it had nothing to do with the bill being debated. This lack of focus makes Hakeem Jeffries a mediocre leader with little hope for any position higher than his current spot.